As Obama Vows to Act on Climate Change, Justices Weigh His Approach

President Obama in recent days has been announcing muscular executive actions to address climate change, making good on his promise to act on pressing problems “with or without Congress.”  On Monday, the Supreme Court will consider the limits of that approach, in a case on greenhouse gas emissions.

The justices are poised to decide whether the Obama administration went too far in trying to regulate emissions from stationary sources like power plants.  In the process, they are likely to weigh in on a central Republican critique of Mr. Obama: that he is misusing his executive authority.

Amanda C. Leiter, a law professor at American University, said the case might have only a modest impact, because the administration would retain other regulatory tools should its approach be rejected.

“It is far more important as a matter of optics than of actual legal consequences,” she said.  If the government loses, she said, “it would be painted as another situation in which the Obama administration has overreached against the public will.”

As Obama Vows to Act on Climate Change, Justices Weigh His Approach